One Piece - Heaven Defying Comprehension!

"Kaido, you're the one who provoked that brat Entei, aren't you? That kid has nothing to do with me, so why should I join you to fight him?" 

Charlotte Linlin looked at Kaido, her face twisted into a fearsome grin. Known for her violent and unpredictable personality, she often loses her sanity due to the strange illness, schizophrenia. But in moments of clarity, she's anything but foolish.

For the Big-Mom Pirates to ally with the Beasts Pirates against the Entei Pirates without any clear gain? It made no sense to her. Despite her volatile nature and reputation as a natural force of destruction—capable of demolishing her own territories over missing dessert ingredients for her tea parties—Linlin wasn't eager to cross paths with Flame Emperor without reason.

She'd watched the entire live broadcast of the Flame Emperor incident, and she knew exactly how devastating Entei's power had become. 

The combat prowess of that brat Ace had reached unprecedented heights, heights that Linlin knew even she couldn't rival alone.

And the warriors under Entei were even more terrifying. Among her own Big-Mom Pirates, her second son, Charlotte Katakuri, was the strongest. But Katakuri's strength didn't even rank him in the top five among the Entei Pirate fleet's officers.

However, Linlin's understanding of the Entei Pirate fleet's current power was based on information from the Flame Emperor incident. And the outside world's intelligence lagged significantly for a few reasons. First, Entei trained his crew on Amazon Lily within the Calm Belt, a secluded place nearly unreachable, even for News Birds. Second, reaching the peak of power was something most sea legends took decades to achieve. 

Given how recently Entei's fleet vanished from public view, the outside world still evaluated their strength based on the Flame Emperor incident. If Kaido and Linlin were fully aware of Entei's current might, they wouldn't be discussing an alliance now. The truth was, with the power the Entei Pirates now held, even if the forces of all Four Emperors combined, they would still be no match.

Today, the Entei Pirates were a superpower, an unmatched force in the pirate world. And based even on her current assessment, Linlin wasn't inclined to start a war with them over Kaido's rash actions. She owed him nothing, and gaining an enemy of that scale was the last thing she wanted.

Besides, Kaido owed her a significant debt.

"By the way, you haven't forgotten, have you?" Linlin's voice boomed, her gaze fixed on Kaido. "On that day when the Rocks Pirates fell, I gifted you the Fish-Fish Fruit, a mythical Zoan fruit, in the Valley of the Gods. Remember this debt and never forget the kindness I showed you!"

In the Valley of the Gods, Charlotte Linlin had stormed into the heart of the battle. There, she saw today's Revolutionary Army commander, Ivankov, and the future Warlord "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma. They each held rare Devil Fruits: the Fish-Fish Fruit - Mythical Zoan - Azure Dragon form, and the Paw-Paw Fruit, ready to consume them.

Acting quickly, Linlin intercepted Ivankov and seized the mythical Zoan fruit for herself, though Kuma managed to consume the Paw-Paw Fruit. Ultimately, she gives the Azure Dragon form of the Fish-Fish Fruit upon Kaido, giving him an ability that ranks among the very strongest of all Devil Fruits.

This power alone made Kaido the "Strongest Creature" and one of the Four Emperors. Although Kaido frequently claimed that Haki surpassed all other powers, he knew firsthand how much strength a top-tier Devil Fruit could bring to a skilled fighter. Otherwise, his three top commanders wouldn't all wield rare ancient Zoan powers. Kaido even partnered with Doflamingo to mass-produce artificial Devil Fruits, or Issho, to forge an army of powerful Devil Fruit users.

Having experienced the immense boost in strength that his mythical Devil Fruit provided, Kaido became obsessed with building an army of Zoan fruit users. Even the Zoan fruits, considered to have the least potential among Devil Fruits, grant considerable power.

Yet, while he insisted that Haki was supreme, Kaido also wished to downplay Linlin's favor of gifting him the Azure Dragon Fruit.

Now, Linlin stood before him to remind him. She had wrested that top-level Devil Fruit from Ivankov's grasp and handed it to him. She was the reason Kaido became the "Strongest Creature" and the mightiest among the Four Emperors in single combat.

Without the mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, could Kaido have reached the top ranks of the Four Emperors on martial prowess and Haki alone? Impossible. Only a master like Red-Haired Shanks could stand at the top through Haki alone, and Kaido's Haki wasn't as dominant nor his martial arts as sharp as Shanks' swordsmanship. To be among the Four Emperors without overwhelming strength is a fantasy.

It was Linlin who elevated Kaido to this status, making him the mightiest of the Emperors. And now, not only did Kaido fail to repay her favor, he even sought to draw her into a pirate alliance and wage war against the Flame Emperor—shameless behavior, even among pirates!

"Gulp… gulp… gulp!" Kaido downed the last of the sake from his gourd, then hurled the empty container to the ground with a loud crash. 

The remnants of the wine gourd shattered, mixing with spilled sake.

"Worororororo! Did you think you could escape from this war, Linlin?" Kaido's laughter filled the air as he looked her in the eye.

"What?"

Linlin's eyes were bloodshot as she glared fiercely at Kaido.

"That Flame Emperor," Kaido began, "he's about to launch the biggest war the world has ever seen. Coming after me? That's just his first move. That man's ambition is to become king of the world! And the first step? He wants to dominate the pirate world!"

Kaido's laughter faded as he fixed a serious gaze on Linlin.

"Unify the pirate world? Don't be absurd. Even Rocks couldn't achieve that." Linlin scoffed, her voice incredulous.

"Rocks?" Kaido replied darkly. "The Flame Emperor is far scarier than Rocks ever was."

Kaido remembered the powerful blow he barely withstood during the Flame Emperor Incident, a terrifying move named 'Remnant Fire Style - North - Heaven and Earth End in Ashes'. The attack's power was as intense as the explosion of a sun; in that moment, Kaido had truly faced a life-or-death crisis. And that force had been aimed primarily at Sabaody Archipelago. 

Though the Five Elders—those five immortals—endured most of the Flame Emperor's attacks with their undying body, even they shared in the brunt of the destruction. Despite this, Kaido still walked away with severe injuries. And that was just raw Devil Fruit power, not even amplified by any Haki. If the Flame Emperor's Conqueror's Haki, already beyond the strength of the Four Emperors, were added to that attack, Kaido could hardly fathom the terror of its full might. Alone, he knew he wouldn't stand a chance.

But with Linlin by his side, fighting the Flame Emperor together might be possible. Both of them had once been part of the Rocks Pirates, and with their combined strength, they could amplify their combat strength to unimaginable levels. Together, they just might be able to bring down the Flame Emperor.

This, then, was why Kaido sought an alliance with Linlin.

"Stronger than Rocks?" Linlin's bloodshot eyes wavered at Kaido's words, realizing something must have happened on Sabaody after the Entei event broadcast ended—something she hadn't seen.

"Mama! mama! But so what?" She laughed, a menacing edge in her tone. "As long as I don't go to war with the Flame Emperor, whether he unifies the pirate world is none of my concern. My joining him would be on my terms, not his. But if I go to war against him with you, Kaido, there'll be no room for negotiation."

She laughed even louder. Kaido—did he think she was a fool? How could he expect her to go to war against the Flame Emperor without any advantage?

"In case you've forgotten, the Flame Emperor commands a giant army—Elbaf's giants," Kaido said, watching her reaction with a twisted grin.

Linlin's expression froze. The giants were her lifelong pain.

Since being abandoned by her parents, she had grown up in Elbaf, the legendary village of warriors, but a berserk rage caused by her schizophrenia had led her to destroy parts of the giant's village, forever marking her as their enemy.

Even after becoming one of the Four Emperors, Linlin longed to bring the giants into her kingdom, believing their power would allow her to rule over the other Emperors.

The fragile truce Linlin once held with the giants had been ruined the moment her daughter, Charlotte Lola, dared to flee from an arranged marriage with the giant prince who had fallen in love with her. The prince, feeling humiliated and deceived, flew into a rage, worsening the strained relations with the giants. And now, under the Flame Emperor's command, Elbaf's warrior giants had united into a formidable regiment.

"Linlin, you understand what the power of the giants means if the Flame Emperor truly wants to be king of the world," Kaido sneered, watching her face harden. "I'll give you another piece of information—this concerns the Flame Emperor and the God Nika."

"Nika?!" Charlotte Linlin's expression shifted, her bloodshot eyes now intense with fury.

"You, of all people, know the weight of Nika's power for the giants. The Flame Emperor's alliance with them is practically guaranteed. When that happens, given the enmity between you and the giants, do you think you'll survive his crusade, Linlin?" Kaido roared.

"Nika?! How can he be Nika? Isn't he supposed to be a Logia-type Mera Mera Fruit user?" Linlin's twisted gaze locked onto Kaido, her voice venomous.

"Have you ever seen a Mera Mera Fruit user wield the powers of all Devil Fruits?" Kaido's words struck like a hammer, igniting Linlin's wrath.

"Swish!" 

"Clang!" 

Napoleon, Linlin's giant sword, clashed fiercely with Kaido's iron club.

"Boom!" 

The collision erupted with terrifying force.

"Don't you see?! This alliance is the only way, Linlin!" Kaido bellowed under Linlin's bloodshot stare. 

——

"From now on, the Beast Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates will be the Pirate Alliance!"

The two, who moments earlier had been at each other's throats, now sat side by side, arms around each other's shoulders, laughing and clinking their glasses.

"Mama…" Katakuri's voice trailed off as he looked at Linlin, hesitation in his eyes.

"Katakuri," she commanded, her eyes turning a darker shade of red, "rally all the officers. We are heading to Onigashima."

No matter his concerns, Katakuri nodded in obedience. The Big Mom Pirates would join forces with the Beasts Pirates against the Flame Emperor's impending assault. Their rendezvous would be at Onigashima, the stronghold of the Beasts Pirates.

"Yes, Mama."

As the Four Emperors—the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates—united, the tides of the pirate world were poised to shift, marking the dawn of a new era in the history of pirates!